Perspectives
by DramaLexy
Summary: TnT. There are many things in life that can change our perspectives. Some can be as small as a child, or as large as a hole in Florida. Please R
1. Part One

**TITLE: Perspectives**

**AUTHOR: DramaLexy **

**SUMMARY: TnT. There are many things in life that can change our perspectives. Some can be as small as a child, or as large as a hole in Florida. Please R&R **

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I got inspired to do this story from reading phaserlady's "Tough Little Boys" (check it out if you get a chance; it's really good) and then after I finished part one, my muse decided to come to work for once, and this thing took on a life of its own. PLEASE let me know what you think; this is my first Enterprise fic, and the first Star Trek fic I've done since a Voyager abomination I made when I was eleven.**

* * *

A baby. A tiny little girl child, futilely trying to move her little newborn limbs. Trip took pity on his daughter and loosened the blanket that confined her. 

"That better?" he whispered as he stood over the little cradle that held his child. Evidently, it was not, for the baby now began to whimper. Trip instinctively picked her up. "Hey, hey, darlin', shh. Yer mama's sleepin', and I think she's earned it, don't you?" Trip spared a glance in his wife's direction. She was still fast asleep on a biobed; even with her sensitive Vulcan hearing, she hadn't been alerted by her daughter's cries.

The baby was now calm in his arms, and a smile crossed Trip's face. "Ah, you just didn't want to be layin' there all by yourself, huh? You wanted somebody holdin' you? Do ya even know who's holdin you, little one? Your mama had a pretty good grip on ya 'till she fell asleep; I'm not sure if we've been introduced. I'm your daddy; you know, the guy your mama's been cursing at the past few months whenever you decided it was playtime. Sorry, bout that, by the way. Your mama...she loves both of us, in her own way, just sometimes its like pullin' teeth to get her to admit it out loud. But I think you're going to teach her a lot about love, darlin'. She just doesn't know it yet.

"Oh, we do have one order of business to go over. Yer mama's probably gonna call you Elizabeth all the time, and that's right and fine, but…sittin' here, lookin' in your eyes, I can't imagine calling you anythin' other than Lizzie. That gonna be okay with you?" All he got was a gurgle in response. "Good, then." He took a deep breath, trying to push back the dark emotions that came with the name. Today wasn't a day for thoughts like those.

Elizabeth's eyes were closing for longer and longer amounts of time, yet they still flickered open upon occasion. "Just like yer old man," Trip whispered to her. "Don't wanna miss a moment of anythin'. Don't worry, darlin', I'm not going anywhere. You go on and go to sleep; I'll be here when ya wake up." This time her eyes didn't reopen. Trip couldn't bring himself to put his daughter down, so he took a chair beside his wife, holding their daughter snugly in his arms. Charles Tucker III finally had a family.

* * *

"Daddy?" Trip looked up from the PADD he was reading when he heard his daughter's voice. She was standing in the doorway to her bedroom, a favorite blankie in one hand and a teddy bear in the other. 

"Yeah, darlin'?"

"There's a monster under my bed." Trip put down the PADD.

"Come here, baby." Five-year-old Elizabeth Tucker ran for his arms. "Now," Trip said as Elizabeth laid her head on his chest and got comfortable, "I know you've been over this with yer mama before. What would she say if she was here?" Elizabeth sighed.

"Ko'Mehk would say that there couldn't be a monster under my bed because internal sensors would have picked it up. But I saw it, Daddy!" Trip smiled, tucking a lock of his daughter's hair behind her pointed ear. She'd rebelled a year earlier and told T'Pol to stop cutting it short, so her dark brown hair had grown out to about her shoulders. "Will you get Uncle Malcolm to do a security check?" Trip hid a grin.

"Uncle Malcolm and Aunt Hoshi were up with Aiko all last night 'cause she was sick. I think we need to let them sleep, so how 'bout yer old man does one instead?" Elizabeth looked at him skeptically.

"You're not a security officer, Daddy."

"No, but I know how to do a monster check." She wasn't convinced.

"Can I sleep with you and Ko'Mehk instead?"

"Yer mama's on the bridge tonight and ya can't sleep with me 'cause I've got work to do."

"Then I can stay out here while you work."

"Lizzie…" She stuck her bottom lip out, and Trip was determined not to cave. On top of the mountain of reports he had to go though, the last thing he needed was a scolding from his wife about the fact that he was helping their daughter form bad habits. "I'm not falling for that anymore, ya hear me? I'm building up immunity to that fat lip o' yers." Trip quickly melted when he looked back down at her. "All right, all right." Elizabeth smiled and snuggled up beside him. "Ya comfortable?" She nodded, and Trip went back to his PADD.

"I love you, Daddy," Elizabeth's little voice whispered a few moments later. He kissed her forehead.

"Love you, too, baby-girl."

* * *

He was still on the couch with her when T'Pol returned in the morning. "I decided to save us some time and I already gave myself the lecture I knew I had coming when you got here," he whispered to his wife. She raised an elegant eyebrow at him. 

"If you knew what my reaction would be, why did you not put her to sleep in her own room?"

"Ain't my fault she's got the Tucker puppy-dog face."

"Her genetics would not agree." Trip had to admit she had him there. "Why did you not put her to bed once she had fallen asleep?"

"Darlin', I've had a hard time putting her down since the day she was born, and I don't think that's gonna change any time soon." If Charles Tucker had married anyone else, he would have gotten at least a smile for that comment. But he hadn't, and he didn't. It was only because of years of experience that he noticed the slight change in expression as T'Pol bent to pick her still-sleeping daughter up off of the couch.

"Ko'Mehk?" the child whispered.

"Go back to sleep," she told her, and Elizabeth obeyed, having barely awoken in the first place. Trip just smiled as he watched his two girls leave the room. _My girls…_

* * *

"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she rode on her father's shoulders into the Enterprise's holiday party a couple weeks later. Jonathan Archer smiled when he saw her. 

"Boy, Lizzie, you sure grew fast. You're taller than me now." The little girl giggled.

"You're silly, Uncle Jon." Trip set his daughter on the ground, and she instantly ran off to see her best friend, Aiko Reed, who was getting something to eat.

"You sure you wanna sugar her up any worse?" Jonathan asked Trip. He laughed, shaking his head.

"Whatever makes her happy. T'Pol's got her tonight; I'm on duty."

"Speaking of…" Jonathan looked around for his First Officer.

"She's coming. Lizzie'd never forgive her if she didn't."

Sure enough, five minutes later, T'Pol entered the mess hall. Elizabeth ran over to her mother. "Ko'Mehk, Ko'Mehk, I got you cookies and punch!"

"Thank you, Elizabeth, but it would not be logical to eat now if we are to have dinner with the Reeds at 1700 hours." Elizabeth frowned.

"I know we're gonna have dinner, but I wanted cookies, too."

"She's not gonna spoil her appetite," Trip interrupted. "Just have a couple, okay, darlin'?" he told Elizabeth. She nodded, and went to rejoin Aiko. "Let her have some fun," he told his wife. "It's Christmas Eve. I know it means more to us than it does to you, but…just try to pretend?" T'Pol finally nodded. "I got ya a present."

"I do not have yours with me."

"That's okay. I just couldn't wait. Here." He handed her a small box.

She'd learned a lot in the years they spent together. Christmas was something that had evolved beyond just being a religious event, and marked a time of year when people came together. Elizabeth had fallen in love with the holiday early, and not just because she got presents. She loved surprising her parents by decorating their quarters, or making cards for the crew with Aiko. T'Pol still didn't understand the full story of the holiday, but she could appreciate the sentiments behind it. And an undeniable part of Christmas was giving to others.

According to Trip, the best way to open a present was to simply rip it open. It had seemed illogical to her – the paper could be reused if care was taken – but Trip had insisted, and she indulged him if for no other reason than to see the full blown, southern charm grin on his face.

"D'ya like it?" Trip asked, his face lit up like the makeshift tree in the corner.

"Jewelry?" T'Pol asked him. He smiled.

"Yeah. It's a necklace. I got the stone on an away mission a little while back. Set it myself."

"It is lovely."

"I know yer not big on jewelry, but I thought…I don't know. I thought ya deserved somethin' special for…big occasions or something."

"Thank you, Trip."

"Yer welcome. You want me to put it on ya?"

"All right." Trip took the necklace back and stood behind her to fasten the clasp. He smiled as T'Pol turned back around.

"You look beautiful. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Elizabeth had been watching them from her spot across the room with the other Enterprise children. Gift exchanges were taking place all around the room, but there was something about her parents that stood out…something was wrong.

* * *

Trip hated having to leave his family on Christmas Eve, but there was no getting around it. The warp drive had required an overhaul, and several members of his crew had volunteered to see the whole thing through, sacrificing their holiday so that other members of the engineering team could be with their families. Rank had its privileges, but Trip wasn't the kind of guy that wouldn't help out at all. It was his engineering, after all. He would put in a shift overnight, and possibly catch a couple hours of sleep before Elizabeth woke him and T'Pol up for presents in the morning. 

After dinner in the Reed's quarters, both Aiko and Elizabeth were at the height of sugar shock and their parents knew they'd crash soon after. T'Pol took her daughter back to their quarters and gave her a bath and got her in her pajamas. After reading a story that Trip had given his daughter, a book titled "The Night before Christmas," Elizabeth fell asleep quickly and T'Pol expected to be able to catch up on the backlog of work that hadn't been accomplished during the week. However, at nearly 0200 hours, she was interrupted by a quiet,

"Ko'Mehk?" T'Pol looked up from the log entry she was making.

"Computer, pause recording," she said, and waited until she heard the acknowledging beep before turning her full attention to her daughter. "You should be in bed."

"I couldn't sleep."

"From what your father has told me, Elizabeth, Santa Claus will not visit you if you are awake."

"I know. I just couldn't sleep."

"Would you like me to put you back to bed?" She shook her head.

"I want Daddy to do a monster check."

"Your father is working."

"Then I want to wait for him."

"He will not be back until morning. You cannot wait for him all night."

"Can I wait for him for a little while? I want to stay with you."

"You should not be awake at this hour. I can put you back to bed and stay with you until you fall asleep." Elizabeth considered the offer and finally nodded. She crawled back into her bed, and let her mother tuck her in. T'Pol deactivated the lights and sat beside her daughter.

"Goodnight, Elizabeth."

"Goodnight, Ko'Mehk." Silence reigned for long moments, and T'Pol was almost certain her daughter was asleep when a little, "Ko'Mehk?" sounded.

"You are supposed to be sleeping." There was a pause.

"Why don't you ever smile, Ko'Mehk?" T'Pol looked down at the child, barely illuminated by the dim light from their living room.

"What?"

"You don't ever smile. Daddy does, and he laughs and makes jokes. But you don't. Not even on Christmas. Don't you like being with us?" T'Pol swallowed hard, suddenly wishing that her husband wasn't on duty that night.

"Your father and I are very different types of people."

"I know," Elizabeth told her. "You're Vulcan and Daddy's human."

"Yes. Vulcans do not show emotion."

"'I've seen you show emotion. You get mad at Daddy sometimes. Or you get sad."

"I suppose…it is easier to show some emotions than others sometimes. However, just because you cannot see them does not mean that they are not there." Elizabeth contemplated that, then raised her hands to her mother's face, and two little fingers gently pushed her lips into a smile. A similar expression crossed Elizabeth's face.

"Much better," she told her mother. "People are prettier when they smile, Ko'Mehk, don't you think?"

"I think that you are pretty no matter what."

"So you are happy here?" the little girl inquired.

"There's nowhere in the universe I'd rather be. Go to sleep, Elizabeth."

"Will you still stay with me?"

"Only if you give me your word that you will stop talking and fall asleep."

"I'll give you my word that I'll try." T'Pol nodded.

"Very well. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ko'Mehk. I love you." T'Pol's lips curved slightly on their own.

"I love you, too."

* * *

Trip wasn't expecting to find his wife in the living room of their quarters when he returned at 0500 hours. "She awake already?" he asked. 

"No."

"You still workin' then? Man, and I thought I procrastinated with reports. I'm gonna catch an hour or so of zzz's, all right?"

"I am…concerned for Elizabeth." Trip stopped short on the way to their bedroom. It took a lot for T'Pol to get 'concerned,' and even more for her to admit it.

"Somethin' happen?" T'Pol sighed.

"I am…uncertain…if I can…give her what she needs." Trip frowned.

"What'dya mean?"

"She is half human. It is in her nature to interact with others through emotion. I do not share this necessity."

"You've come a long way, T'Pol."

"But apparently not far enough…Elizabeth confronted me with the observation that I do not express happiness. She assumed it meant I did not want to be with her." Trip sat down, sleep forgotten.

"She's five years old, T'Pol, and she's half Vulcan, too. She's still young, but she'll understand with time."

"Can you be certain?"

"Yes. I learned, didn't I? Lizzie loves ya; that's all that matters."

"You have always put a great amount of confidence in the influence of love." Trip smiled.

"Must be my humanity."

* * *

Trip smiled when he came into his quarters and saw his six-year-old daughter sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the art supplies that Hoshi had given her for her last birthday. "Whatcha workin' on, darlin'?" Elizabeth put a finger to her lips. 

"Ko'Mehk's sleeping," she whispered. Her father frowned.

"She feeling okay?"

"She said that your son kept her up all night. But isn't Lorian going to be Ko'Mehk's son, too?" Trip grinned. T'Pol got a certain amount of gratification out of blaming him for the fact that she was pregnant. _It takes two to tango…_

"Yeah, baby," he told Elizabeth. "Yeah, he is." She nodded, and turned back to her art project. "What are you working on?" She held up a picture she'd made, and Trip thought he recognized the landscape.

"It's for Lorian," Elizabeth told her father. "So that he knows what Vulcan looks like."

"That's very thoughtful of you."

"I'm his big sister," she explained. "I've gotta take care of him." Trip was suddenly hit with the connotations of the moment. He buried the old memories that were threatening to surface before they could overwhelm him.

"You take care of each other," he told his daughter, working hard not to let his voice crack. If Elizabeth noticed, she didn't acknowledge it.

"Yes, Daddy," was all she said. Trip kissed her forehead, and then headed into the bedroom that he and T'Pol shared. His wife was sound asleep in their bed, and he dropped kisses on both her cheek and rounded stomach before sitting at his desk to get some work done.

* * *

The sight of the group of people waiting outside of sickbay put a grin on Trip's face as he stepped into the corridor. Hoshi was keeping both Aiko and Elizabeth occupied while Malcolm, Jonathan, and Travis talked among themselves. They all rose to their feet, however, at the sound of the doors opening. 

"Well?" Jonathan asked his Chief Engineer. His grin widened.

"Lorian Tucker has made his appearance. And he's got his mama's stubborn streak."

"When do we get to see him?" Malcolm asked. Trip smiled, reaching for his daughter's hand.

"Ladies first," he told his friend as he took Elizabeth with him back into sickbay. Phlox had put a chair at T'Pol's bedside, and the little girl instantly climbed up on it in order to get a look at her new baby brother.

"He looks like you, Daddy," she announced. Trip laughed.

"Yeah, but he's got his mama's ears."

"Does he know who I am?" Elizabeth asked her mother.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" She smiled and nodded.

"Hi, Lorian. I'm your ko'kai, Elizabeth. Ko'kai means sister in Vulcan. I'm half Vulcan, and you are, too. You're my sa'kai. That means brother. I don't know much Vulcan, but Ko'Mehk taught me some. She can teach you, too, when you're bigger. Ko'Mehk knows lots about lots of stuff."

"I guess I'm just the big dummy 'round here, huh?" Trip asked. Elizabeth grinned at him.

"No, you're not. That's Daddy," she told her brother. "He jokes around a lot. Sometimes he's not very funny, though."

"Hey!" T'Pol shot him a look that questioned whether or not he really wanted to argue.

"He's human," Elizabeth continued, "So we're half human, too. You're going to like living on Enterprise. It's the best place to live in the whole universe."


	2. Part Two

There were many on Earth (and Vulcan) that questioned the place of children on a starship, but Jonathan Archer wasn't breaking up his crew if he could help it, and had no problem with its smallest inhabitants.

"Lizzie, come on, yer gonna be late for yer lessons!" Trip called through their quarters. His thirteen-year-old daughter finally appeared in her doorway. He handed her a muffin for breakfast. Seven-year-old Lorian was already eating his as he waited by the door for his sister. "Yer brother's got to take a tour of the science labs after lessons, so will you take him down there?"

"I can't. I'm meeting Aiko."

"For what?"

"We've got stuff to go over for our project."

"Fine, then you and Aiko take your brother to the science lab and you can work while you wait for him."

"Why can't Ko'Mehk take him later?"

"Because yer mama's working! So yer gonna take yer brother, understand?" If Elizabeth had been aware of the fact that her father had been up half the night working, she probably would have let it go, but she wasn't, so she didn't. It wasn't so much that she minded looking after her brother, but she'd fallen behind with her project, and had enough to worry about without Lorian' schedule to account for.

"It would not be logical," she told her father, "For me to sacrifice my own work for his when my presence is not required in order for his assignment to be completed." Trip had gotten about an hour of sleep, and hadn't had any coffee yet. The last thing he wanted was to be getting into it with his stubborn eldest.

"Don't you go spoutin' logic to me!" he told her. Lorian spoke up for the first time in the conversation.

"Ko'Mehk always uses logic to – "

"Neither one of ya is yer mama!" Trip shot back, with no clue why he was yelling at his son. "Go to school," he told Elizabeth, "Take yer brother to the labs, and then you can meet Aiko."

"But, Daddy – "

"Just do it!" Elizabeth shot him a glare that she'd directly inherited from her mother, grabbed her bag, and headed out the door. Lorian wordlessly followed her into the corridor.

* * *

Most of the Enterprise's children had some amazing gift they'd inherited from their parents that made them stand out in the classroom. Aiko, of course, excelled at linguistics. Lorian, as young as he was, already had a love for science. Elizabeth was an amazing problem solver. The children's educations on the ship were tailored to their interests, thus there was rarely ever a complaint when a project was assigned. Except for maybe the deadline. 

Elizabeth and Aiko had been paired up for their latest assignment, and since it was nearly the end of the grade period, they were already swamped with other work. Elizabeth didn't care what her father said; her own work was going to come before some little scavenger hunt of the science labs.

"I'll take you down there once Aiko and I are finished," Elizabeth told her brother as they walked towards the mess hall.

"That is not what Sa'Mehk told you."

"I'm fully aware of that, thank you. I need to get my project done. Just work on your own homework, and we'll be done as fast as we can." Lorian was Vulcan enough in mannerisms not to roll his eyes at his sister, but if he could have, he would have. They had grown up into two very dissimilar people. Elizabeth looked just like their mother, but acted like their father, or rather, acted human. Lorian was the exact opposite. They were close, despite their differences, but, like all siblings, did not lack the ability to get on each other's nerves.

Lorian sat down at a table near his sister and her friend to do some homework and wait. He'd get back at his sister eventually…

* * *

It had been a pretty normal day in engineering for Trip. A few problems that he'd been able to delegate out to his crew, and a few matters that had required his personal attention, but other than that, an unusually slow afternoon. Trip was in his office, trying to catch up on some reports he had to read, when all of a sudden, the ship pitched mercilessly, and they were knocked out of warp. He could hear the shouts from members of his team as they were burned by exploding panels. Other officers ran to help them. Trip hit the comm. 

"Tucker to the bridge, we just lost the warp engines!"

* * *

The bridge wasn't in much better condition. Circuitry hung from a damaged bulkhead in the back. Hoshi ducked as another spray of sparks was issued forth behind her. 

"Travis, get us as far away from those eddies as you can," Archer told his helmsman.

"We've only got thrusters," he replied.

"Do we have a damage report yet?" the Captain turned to Malcolm next.

"There are hull breaches on decks D and E….a few fires as well."

"I'm detecting a ship approaching," T'Pol called out, her voice calm as ever.

"Hail them," Archer told Hoshi. She tried, and shook her head.

"No response."

"They're charging weapons," Malcolm reported. The ship pitched again as it was struck.

"What do we have left, Malcolm?"

"Forward Phase Canon." Archer nodded.

"Target their weapons systems." They could see the ball of energy arc out at the attacking ship. Enterprise was rocked again by enemy fire, but their weapon found its target. An explosion emanated forth from the impact site, and the attacking ship broke off.

"Archer to Engineering, how long before we have engines?"

"We've almost got impulse back online," Trip reported. "The warp engines are gonna be a few hours." Archer nodded.

"Get us out of here with everything we have, Travis, as soon as you've got it."

"Aye, sir."

"Captain, there was an explosion on E deck," Malcolm reported.

"Where?"

"The science labs."

"Get a team down there."

"Aye, sir."

* * *

It was hours before any of the officers had a chance to take a break from their duties. As the shifts changed, Archer pulled all of his senior staff into the conference room for an update. 

"You talked to Lizzie and Lorian?" Trip asked T'Pol as he caught up with her on her way into the room.

"I have not." He nodded. The kids knew protocol for a ship emergency – they were supposed to go to their quarters and wait until their heard from their parents. It wasn't surprising that no one had heard from them.

"Warp engines ought to be back online within the hour," Trip reported. "We're gonna be limited to 3.5 for a while, though." Archer nodded.

"The Liberty is about seventeen hours away at max speed," Hoshi stated. "They're changing course to intercept us." Archer nodded.

"The fire on E Deck has been contained," Malcolm went next. "There is a team surveying the science labs. So far, there are no survivors." Trip's head shot up at that.

"Wait, what? What happened in the science labs?"

"There was an explosion," Malcolm told him.

"What time?"

"Just after the attack."

"What time was that?!?"

"Trip, what's the matter?" Archer asked him.

"About 1500," Malcolm said at the same time. Trip jumped up from his chair.

"Trip!" T'Pol called, also standing.

"Lizzie and Lorian were goin' to the labs after school," was all he had to say.

"What about Aiko?" Hoshi asked, also getting up from the table. "She was supposed to be with Lizzie." Trip swallowed hard.

"I told Lizzie to take her down there with them." Half the senior staff was out the door in an instant.

* * *

T'Pol had had the calm of mind to suggest calling the children over the comm. system, but Malcolm had countered with the information that the comm. system was down on half of the ship. As they approached the science labs, the walls switched from a familiar gray to a charred black. Conduits and wires were hanging down everywhere. 

"Lizzie! Lorian!" Trip yelled as he climbed over a fallen beam in the doorway.

"The area hasn't been declared secure," one of the MACOs tried to tell him.

"You think I give a damn about that?"

"Trip," Malcolm said as he pulled his friend back. "Let them do their jobs."

"I told them to come down here!" he yelled. "Lizzie…Lizzie wanted to work on her own project, but I wouldn't listen to her. I picked a fight with her over it, and now…"

"Phlox to Commander Tucker," the doctor's voice came over the comm. "Would you please report to sickbay as soon as you are able? I have two patients waiting here for you."

* * *

A ship speed record was broken on the way to Sickbay. Trip didn't even care about the tears that started pouring down his face as soon as he saw his kids sitting on a biobed. He just wrapped both of them up in his arms. 

"We're sorry, Dad," Elizabeth told him. "We knew you were busy, we didn't want Dr. Phlox to bother you." Trip just held them tighter. Aiko was getting a similar treatment from her parents.

"What's wrong, Sa'Mehk?" Lorian asked his father. Trip shook his head, kneeling in front of them.

"Are you okay? Ya hurt?" Lorian held up his hand, which had a scar across his palm.

"We were trying to clean up our quarters before you got home," he told his father.

"Great-grandma's mirror broke," Elizabeth told her father regretfully.

"I tried putting it back together," Lorian explained, "But I didn't do a very good job. I got cut."

"Ya didn't get burned?" Trip asked, looking both children over. They shook their heads.

"Why would we?" Lorian asked.

"The-the fire in the science labs." Lizzie looked down.

"We didn't go to the labs, Daddy. I'm sorry I disobeyed you." Trip shook his head, pulling both children into his arms again.

"I'm glad you did," he finally told them. "God, am I glad you did."

"I'm sorry for this morning, Daddy."

"So am I, darlin'. So am I."

* * *

Ten members of the crew had been lost in the attack. They'd later figured out that the gravitational eddies they'd hit weren't natural, but a kind of spider web for a species of space pirates. 

Once word got through the Starfleet grapevine about the fact that half of the crew's children had nearly been killed in the attack, review boards were set up to determine whether or not the children belonged on the starship in the first place. For many of Enterprise's officers, however, the review boards were irrelevant; they'd come to their own decision that life on the ship was a risk they couldn't take. Malcolm and Hoshi were taking Aiko to one of the stations in Mars orbit. They knew their daughter was a space child, and couldn't imagine moving back planet-side on a permanent basis. Trip, however, saw the end of his assignment on Enterprise as an opportunity to go back to Earth. He was miles ahead of himself in the planning department before the rest of his family knew what had happened.

"What'dya think?" he asked as he opened the door to the California house they were thinking of buying.

"Is there a protein resequencer?" Lorian asked as he ventured into the kitchen.

"Nope, we're gonna be cookin' real foodstuffs." Lorian continued exploring.

"What kind of trees are those?" Elizabeth asked her father, pointing.

"I think they're oak. The backyard's nice, ain't it?"

"Yeah…It'll be weird not to see the stars all the time."

"You'll get used to it. When I got my first commission, it was weird never to see daylight."

"May I go outside, Sa'Mehk?" Lorian asked his father. Trip nodded.

"Go ahead." Elizabeth followed her brother. "What's your opinion?" Trip asked T'Pol once they were alone. She appeared indifferent.

"It is a nice house," she finally said.

"It's a good neighborhood, good school for the kids."

"So you have told me." Trip grinned.

"I know; I'm overexcited. I'm sorry, I just…I want everything for us, you know? I never thought about what it'd be like starting over back here. I just want everything to be perfect."

* * *

Elizabeth stopped her careful exploration of the backyard when she noticed her brother standing on the sidewalk, staring across the street. "What are you looking at?" she asked him. 

"What are they doing?" he asked, pointing to three children across the street playing some game with a ball and a hoop on a pole.

"I don't know. Let's go see." They crossed the road and approached the other driveway. "Hello," she said.

"What are you playing?" Lorian asked. The boys looked at each other and smirked.

"You've never heard of basketball?" They shook their heads. "Where the heck are you from?"

"Nowhere near here," Elizabeth truthfully said. Something told her that disclosing her parents' affiliation with Starfleet wasn't something she needed to do at that point.

"What's wrong with your ears?" another of the boys asked.

"Nothing!" Lorian defensively said. The boys laughed.

"Yeah, whatever, freak," the third teased, giving Lorian a little shove. "You a little elf, huh? Or a fairy!"

"Leave him alone," Elizabeth said.

"Or you'll do what?" he asked, shoving Lorian again. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Nothing." The next thing he knew, he was pinned to the ground, with his arm being held at a painful angle behind his back.

"I told you to leave him alone," she said.

"Okay, okay, fine!" he cried. Elizabeth let him up. She wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders and led him back across the street. Trip and T'Pol were coming out of the house.

"Hey, what's going on?" Trip asked the kids.

"I don't want to live here," Lorian told his father.

"You don't like the house?"

"I don't want to live here!"

"We want to go back to Enterprise," Elizabeth told her mother.

"It is no longer safe for you there."

"But it's our home," Lorian protested. "We don't want to leave."

"You'll learn to like it here," Trip told them. "I know it'll take some time to adjust, but – "

"We don't want to stay here," Elizabeth told him. "And you can't make us."

* * *

Neither child talked to Trip for the rest of the day. T'Pol came to Elizabeth's room in their temporary quarters at Starfleet late that night before her daughter went to bed. It had been a tradition since Elizabeth was a toddler for her mother to brush her hair out at night. 

"What is troubling you, ko'fu?" T'Pol quietly asked after silence reigned for a long moment.

"Why did we have to leave Enterprise?"

"You know it is no longer safe there. There is unrest between many species."

"Do we have to move here to Earth?"

"What would you prefer?"

"I don't know…they hate us here. They'll never accept us."

"Never is a very long time." Elizabeth sighed.

"Where do we belong, Ko'Mehk? We're too alien for Earth, and too human for Vulcan."

"It is up to you, Elizabeth. When I first took my position on Enterprise, I did not feel like I belonged, either. But with time…with time my views began to change."

"But weren't there still people that didn't want you there? That couldn't see you as an equal?"

"There will always be people who are intolerant of change. You cannot let them control you." Elizabeth slowly nodded.

"I still don't want to stay here." T'Pol got up.

"Get some rest. Nothing has been decided yet." Elizabeth lay down.

"Goodnight, Ko'Mehk. I love you."

"And I, you."

* * *

"Daddy. Daddy, wake up." Trip sleepily rubbed at his eyes. 

"Wha?" he asked as he started to sit up, but he froze when he saw the girl – woman – sitting at the foot of his bed. "Who the hell're you?"

"You don't recognize me, Daddy? It's Lizzie."

"You ain't my Lizzie."

"I will be. Half a century from now." Trip just stared. "Yeah, I know I look different. A lot changes in fifty years." He snorted.

"That's for sure…If you're Lizzie, then what happened to yer ears?" She brought a finger to one of them.

"Surgery. You fit in a lot better on Earth if you don't look like an alien."

"Yer running from who ya are?"

"Only when I can win the race. While we're on the subject of running, when you're deciding where to run away to after leaving Enterprise, don't pick Earth."

"We-I ain't running! I'm trying to keep you safe."

"Because you couldn't keep Aunt Lizzie safe, right?" Trip didn't reply. "Don't take us back to Earth, Dad. You'll be creating more problems than you fix."

"What'dya mean?"

"I shouldn't say any more."

"I'm not gonna follow the directions of some…apparition that's claimin' to be my daughter if I don't even know why I'm following them!" Lizzie sighed.

"Vulcans don't belong on Earth. And that includes half-Vulcans." Trip was awake now.

"What happened?"

"You humans aren't very accepting of change."

"You're half human, too, darlin'."

"I'm aware…Even Vulcans have their breaking points, Dad."

"Who found theirs?"

"Lorian. You raised one very angry boy, and when he turned into a very angry man…that's when he got dangerous."

"Why's he so angry?"

"It's hard not to be when you don't feel like you belong anywhere that you go. He hated Earth, even more than I did. He fit in a lot less well than I did. But because you forced him into a life on Earth, he wasn't accepted on Vulcan, either. He was stuck."

"I didn't force – "

"Yes, you did. We tried to tell you how unhappy we were, Dad, but you wouldn't listen." Trip was silent. "You know it's true. I know what you're trying to do, Dad, and it's honorable, but it won't work. Too much has changed. You can't give us the perfect planet-side childhood that you had. We're your new family, but we're not a second chance at your relationship with Aunt Lizzie. We're our own people." Trip finally nodded.

"I know ya are."

"Good. Then listen to us."

* * *

Trip suddenly awoke, sitting straight up in bed. The sudden movement awakened T'Pol. "Are you all right?" she asked him, sitting up as well. 

"I'm not sure…Go back to sleep." He pulled on a robe and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"To check on the kids. Go back to sleep."

* * *

Lorian was soundly asleep, curled up in a ball tighter than Trip would have thought possible. He shook his head with a smile, wondering how it was his son didn't wind up with a crick in his neck every morning. He then continued on to check on his daughter. She was wrapped up in her grandmother's quilt, and stirred when the door to her room opened. 

"Daddy?"

"Go back to sleep," Trip said as he pulled her blanket up. Elizabeth closed her eyes again. "Don't worry," Trip whispered to her. "We're not gonna stay here."

* * *

When Elizabeth, Lorian, and T'Pol got up for breakfast in the morning, there was a data chip waiting for each of them on the table. "What's this?" Lorian asked his father. "More information on another house?" Trip shook his head. 

"Nope. That is information about the science labs on K-3. I thought you might want to get acclimated with them." Elizabeth frowned.

"Deep Space Station K-3?"

"Uh-huh. That," he pointed to her chip, "Is information about the cryptography and engineering research they've been working on. Wasn't sure which one you'd be more interested in."

"Trip, what is going on?" T'Pol asked him. He grinned.

"And yours," he told his wife, "Is an offer of commission with their science labs. They were looking for a new head."

"Are you serious, Daddy?" Elizabeth asked him. "We could stay in space?"

"Of course, I'm serious, darlin'. I know it took me a while to realize it, but I think that's where we belong, don't you?" No one disagreed with him.


	3. Part Three

Lorian Tucker looked around at the room of people that surrounded him. He hadn't been back on Earth in more than thirty years, since his sister's graduation. He didn't even recognize most of the people in the Starfleet meeting hall he was standing in. Then a tall brunette caught his eye.

"Lorian," he heard a voice say, and all of a sudden he was wrapped up in his sister's arms. No one in the universe got away with hugging him except his ko'kai. Their relationship was wholly unique.

"Where's Ko'Mehk?" he asked his sister.

"Talking with Admiral Rawlings."

"How is she?"

"I don't know. Quiet. I've never seen her like this."

"Can you blame her?" Elizabeth slowly shook her head.

"How are you?" she quietly asked her brother.

"As well as expected," he replied. They had rarely seen each other as of late, having fallen into the same pattern their father and aunt had set almost three quarters of a century ago. They were close, yes, but light years between them and busy schedules had pulled them apart. Their father had often warned them about not keeping up their relationship – a day might come when it would be too late to fix things. They might not always be there. They now understood their father's concern. They had suffered a loss, all right, but neither one of them was the one being mourned.

* * *

Lorian and Elizabeth slowly approached their mother. Neither one had ever associated the word 'fragile' with T'Pol, but that day it was popping up in both of their minds. She was several shades paler than normal, and as she stood amongst the Starfleet admiral and captains that were expressing their condolences, she looked like the porcelain doll that Trip had once given Elizabeth as a birthday present. 

"Admiral, Captains," Elizabeth addressed the men.

"Lieutenant," they all returned. "Your father was a good man." She nodded.

"We know." The men moved on, and what remained of the Tucker family was left in solitude by the window, overlooking San Francisco.

"You should get some rest, Ko'Mehk," Elizabeth told her mother, taking her hand. "You've been talking to officers all morning." T'Pol's eyes did not meet her daughter's.

"Your father worked with many people."

"Are you hungry, Ko'Mehk?" Lorian tried. "I could get something for you to eat."

"I am fine," she told her children starkly, and did not miss it when they both flinched. She turned to them, her expression a bit softer. "I have always known that your father would go first."

"I think I just saw Aiko come in," Elizabeth told her mother. "I'll be right back."

The best friends immediately hugged upon reaching each other. "How are you holding up?" Aiko asked.

"I…I'm not entirely sure," Elizabeth admitted. "I'm not sure if it's sunk in yet, really." Aiko knew what she was going through; she'd lost both of her parents a few years earlier. Elizabeth knew she was lucky to have had some extra time with her father – he'd lived to be 106. She also knew she hadn't made the most of that time…

The two women made an odd pair, but they were both used to it. In age, Aiko was actually a year younger, but in appearance she could have been Elizabeth's mother. They were both in their late sixties, but Elizabeth only appeared to be about thirty. She and Lorian had been blessed – or cursed – with their mother's lifespan. Aiko actually looked older than her best friend's mother.

"How's your mom?" she asked, and Elizabeth looked back to where T'Pol and Lorian were still standing by the window. They'd always been more alike, while Elizabeth had taken after her father. She wasn't entirely sure what to do for her Ko'Mehk now.

"I don't know…" she truthfully told Aiko.

* * *

San Francisco was a nice city; Elizabeth had lived there for a few years when she attended the Academy. Lorian had never spent more than a month or so on Earth; he'd graduated from the Vulcan Science Academy, but he hadn't stayed on his second home world, either. He'd taken a position on a science station like the one he'd grown up on, while Elizabeth had gotten an assignment at the Utopia Prime shipbuilding facility. She was still uncomfortable with both of her home worlds, as well. However, they had an uncanny knack for making each other feel at home anywhere. 

"Here," Lorian told his sister as he offered her a mug of tea. She looked away from the window she was standing at in the quarters Starfleet had put them in.

"Where's Ko'Mehk?"

"Meditating." Elizabeth nodded.

"Good."

"What happens now?" Lorian asked after a long moment of silence.

"I don't know."

"I am concerned for Ko'Mehk."

"I know. So am I."

"Perhaps I should take her back to Vulcan."

"You really think she'd go?"

"I don't know. Do you think she would go home?"

"No." Their parents had bought some land in the southeastern United States; they'd lived there, mostly in seclusion, for the last decade of Trip's life. Elizabeth had accompanied her mother on the shuttle-pod flight from there to San Francisco, and when they had left the house, it had seemed very final.

"We cannot leave her alone."

"I know."

"Then what should we do?" Elizabeth didn't have an answer for her brother.

"There is somewhere that I would like to go," a voice said behind them, and they both spun to see T'Pol.

"Where?" Elizabeth asked.

"Florida."

* * *

A week later they were on the other side of the country. T'Pol had said little about the point of the journey, but they all knew the significance of the location. In the years since the Xindi attack, the state had recovered to some degree. Parts of the chasm that had been cut into the earth had been filled, and new communities had sprung up from the destruction. But the hole was still visible from space, and the events of the past would never completely be forgotten. There was a memorial dedicated to the 7 million people who had lost their lives for doing nothing more than living, and that was where T'Pol brought her children. 

They didn't speak; they didn't need to. Anything that could have been said was already running through everyone's minds. They just stood, and looked, and thought.

After about an hour, Elizabeth looked up at her mother and realized she looked even sicklier than she had that morning. They'd noticed the sharp decline in her health since Trip's death, though T'Pol had adamantly refused medical attention. "Ko'Mehk, you should rest."

"I am fine."

"No, you're not," Lorian persisted. "We're taking you back to the hotel."

* * *

Elizabeth was acutely aware that the roles had been completely reversed as she and her brother got their mother to bed. While Lorian went to make some tea, the two women sat together. "Why did you want to come here?" Elizabeth asked. 

"This is where everything changed. Your father and I, our lives would never be the same after the attack."

"You helped him through it," Elizabeth agreed. "You let each other in."

"In the face of great loss," T'Pol told her daughter, "May lie the only time you can see all that you have before you." Elizabeth took her hand.

"You still have us, Ko'Mehk. Lorian and I, we're going to take care of you. We're still a family."

"You were nearly an only child," T'Pol revealed. "But your father did not want you to be alone."

"Daddy always said that Lorian was the only friend I had that I couldn't ever get rid of."

"You take care of each other."

"We will, Ko'Mehk. We'll all take care of each other. That's what a family does, right?" Elizabeth's small smile brightened when her mother returned it. "What would you like to do tomorrow?"

"I am uncertain."

"We can talk over breakfast in the morning. You should get some rest now." Elizabeth kissed her mother's cheek. "Good night, Ko'Mehk. I love you."

"I love you, too, Elizabeth."

* * *

Elizabeth ran into Lorian in the hall. "Is she asleep?" he asked his sister. 

"If not, she will be soon."

"Did you ask why we are here?"

"To get some perspective…I think she'll be better in the morning. She seems to be getting some peace." Lorian nodded.

"You still want your tea?"

"Yeah."

* * *

The closeness that Elizabeth and Lorian had shared as children was still there, though it had been buried deep. That night, they unearthed it, and stayed together on the balcony of their hotel room, talking about everything and anything until the sun's light began to peek over the horizon. Elizabeth checked the chrono. 

"We probably should get a little bit of sleep," she told her little brother. He waved her on inside.

"You go on," he told her. "I'm fine." Elizabeth nodded and headed back into their suite. Her mind was too active for sleep to come easy, and after an hour or so of tossing and turning, she finally got back up. She could hear Lorian making breakfast, and so went to see if her mother was awake yet.

"Ko'Mehk?" she asked as she lightly rapped on the door. She didn't receive a response, and so tapped the control pad to open the door. "Ko'Mehk?"

T'Pol was still asleep in bed, and Elizabeth smiled as she knelt beside her. "Ko'Mehk, do you want breakfast?" she asked as she gently shook her shoulder. She froze, however, when she realized how cold her mother felt. "Ko'Mehk?" she whispered, the word barely making it out of her throat.

T'Pol could not hear her daughter calling her name, for she was no longer in the hotel room, or even in Florida, or on Earth. She was back onboard the Enterprise NX-01, back in the corridor outside her quarters. The door opened, and she walked inside.

"Look who's home!" she heard a very familiar southern drawl say. Trip grinned as his eight-year-old daughter and two-year-old son ran for their mother, wrapping their arms around her.

"See the tree, Ko'Mehk?" Elizabeth asked, pointing to the makeshift Christmas tree that was in the corner.

"Daddy did it!" Lorian announced. Trip smiled as he stepped over to her, and held a small bit of a plant over her head – mistletoe.

"Merry Christmas, darlin'," he told her as he leaned over to kiss her.

It was the most perfect day she'd ever lived though, and she'd get to live it again for the rest of eternity. As Elizabeth sat at her mother's bedside, she knew that the story her mother had told about bond mates not being able to live without each other wasn't just a story.

"Sleep well, Ko'Mehk," she whispered. "We'll be okay."


End file.
